


Happy Birthday, Anxiety!

by LonelyThursday



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Sweetheart, But not that much, Family, Fluff, Gen, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Sweetheart, Pre-Episode: Accepting Anxiety, Protective Deceit | Janus Sanders, Romans kinda a jerk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28175994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyThursday/pseuds/LonelyThursday
Summary: It's Anxiety's birthday and Patton wants to make sure they do something special for him
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Kudos: 57





	Happy Birthday, Anxiety!

**Author's Note:**

> It's cute idk

_Knock knock knock_

Virgil stares at the door for a moment, pondering if he should answer or not. He’s not sure who it could be since Remus would knock louder and more obnoxiously, Janus wouldn’t bother knocking at all, and no one else is very likely to come to his room in the first place. 

_Knock_

“Anxiety?”

_Knock knock_

“Kiddo, are you in there?”

Oh. Morality. That’s good, Morality doesn’t usually yell at him or harass him, he probably just wants to know if Virgil’s coming to dinner tonight - which he almost always does, no matter how much the ‘Main Sides’ don’t want him there. 

Virgil cracks the door open just enough for him to see Morality, and Morality to see him. 

“Hi Morality,” he says slowly, cautiously. 

Morality’s face immediately splits into a wide smile, as if he’s actually _happy_ to see Virgil. “Hi Anxiety! Do you know what today is?”

Virgil frowns. As far as he can tell, there’s nothing special about today, it’s almost Christmas, but it isn’t yet, and he can’t think of anything else that would merit this enthusiasm from the self-proclaimed ‘dad Side’. 

“December 19th?” He tries. 

“It’s your birthday!” Morality happily explodes, throwing his arms up and bouncing excitedly on his toes. 

“Oh,” how had he forgotten his own birthday? 

Most Sides didn’t celebrate birthdays - except for _maybe_ Thomas’ birthday - and when they did it was usually Morality going out of his way for the other ‘Main Sides’. 

“Yeah!” Morality continues, undeterred by Virgil’s lack of enthusiasm. “And I was thinking, I know you probably don’t want to make a big deal about it, but I thought you might like to pick what we have for dinner! And we can watch movies after! I know you like The Black Cauldron, and we can watch anything else you want!”

“Can we watch Coraline?” Virgil’s mouth asks before his brain can catch up. Morality, who always went all out for Princey and Logic’s birthdays, wanted to celebrate Virgil’s. Not only that, but he wanted to celebrate Virgil’s birthday in a way that _Virgil_ would actually enjoy, not the loud and boisterous parties he threw Princey, or the calm and sophisticated affair he did for Logic, no, he wanted to quietly and casually do things Virgil likes. 

“Of course!” Morality looks like he wants to throw his arms around Virgil, but can’t since the door is still in the way. “And we don’t have to tell the others if you don’t want to, and we can have popcorn, and pretzels, and skittles, and-”

Virgil cuts Morality off by opening the door all the way and launching himself at the fatherly Side. 

“Thank you,” he mutters against Morality’s cardigan, fighting back tears. 

Morality doesn’t move for a moment, but soon brings his arms up to return the embrace, one hand cradling the back of Virgil’s head, and the other rubbing up and down his back comfortingly. 

“Aww kiddo, it’s the least I can do. Now what do you want for dinner?”

**< (^.^)>**

Patton hums to himself as he slides the last pizza into the oven. Everything is in place for Anxiety’s birthday, pizzas are in the oven, chocolate chip cookies (Anxiety’s favorite) are cooling on the counter, a stack of Halloween-ish movies are next to the TV, he even confirmed that Deceit was going to come! (Not that Deceit’s attendance is ever really in question, the lying Side is almost always around. Patton’s pretty sure he just enjoys being adjacent to the action.)

Speaking of Deceit, he’s seated at the table when Patton turns around. 

“JIMINY- oh, Deceit!” Patton grips the counter with one hand, and his racing heart with the other. “I wasn’t expecting to see you there, kiddo.”

“I was _not_ under the impression that you wanted me here,” Deceit says casually, and though he seems to be inspecting his gloves, Patton can tell he’s being watched closely. 

“I do want you here!” Patton assures quickly. “I just didn’t hear you come in. You _snaked_ up on me!”

Deceit hums and suddenly drops his casual demeanor. “Let’s stop beating around the bush, Morality. Why are you making an effort for Anxiety’s birthday this year?”

“Oh! I make an effort for Anxiety’s birthday every year,” Patton explains cheerfully. “I just thought, maybe this year he’d like to do a little bit more! But if you and Anxiety didn’t realize I was doing anything, then maybe I wasn’t doing enough…”

Deceit looks startled for a moment before covering it up with disinterest. 

“You never do anything for _my_ birthday,” he drawls. 

“Of course I do!” Patton reassures quickly. “You like lasagna, and strawberry tarts, and hot gossip, and the Princess Bride!”

“Hmm, no. I like pickled herring, stewed prunes, invasions of my personal space, and the Twilight franchise.”

“Oh, okay,” Patton says brightly. He’s a little shocked he got Deceit’s favorite things so wrong, but he’ll do his best to correct it!

Deceit gives him a funny look, but remains quiet while Patton finishes dinner. 

“Kiddos! Dinner!” Patton calls up the stairs. 

Virgil leaves his room when he hears Morality call, but he hovers in the hall until he hears Logic head down the stairs. He won’t be first, good, now he just needs to hope Princey is far enough behind him that they don’t have to walk together. 

Janus is already at the table when Virgil reaches the foot of the stairs, so he hadn’t really had to have worried about being the first one to the table. He’s watching Morality like he’s a puzzle in need of solving, which is definitely a mood. Morality has a carefree way of going through life, which is something Janus and Virgil will never understand and probably never fully trust. 

Virgil takes his place next to Janus and waits as Morality places three different pizzas onto the table. Janus quirks an eyebrow at Virgil, Virgil shrugs in response, and Janus nods.

Princey comes bounding down the stairs moments later. “Greetings Padre, Specs! Oh and Emo Nightmare and Loki I _guess.”_

“Hi Roman!” Morality grins. Logic nods in acknowledgement, but his focus is mainly on the notebook in his hands.

“Ah Princey, how I’ve missed your very presence,” Janus sighs, way overdoing it. “I simply don’t know _how_ I survive my day to day life without hearing your dulcet tones.”

“Really?” Princey asks, looking a little confused but mostly pleased with the attention and praise. _Idiot._

 _“Of course,”_ Janus purrs. Logic sends Janus a side eye, but doesn’t comment, and Virgil has to fight back a snort of laughter. 

Dinner goes well. Morality made Virgil’s favorite kinds of pizza even though Virgil hadn’t specified either (he's impressed and a little terrified of how perceptive Morality is), and the cookies are _perfect._

After dinner, Morality _insists_ on having a movie night and puts on a big act of convincing Virgil and Janus to stay despite Princey’s obvious disdain for Virgil (any time Princey raises an objection to Janus, Janus just strokes his ego). In the end, Janus and Virgil sit on one side of the sectional, Logic and Princey sit on the other, and Morality sits in the corner bit. They start with the Black Cauldron because that one is the hard sell for Princey and requires Morality pulling out his _Patton_ -ed (heh) puppy dog eyes, Coraline and the Nightmare Before Christmas will be much easier to push through. 

Remus shows up halfway through the movie, hanging from the ceiling over Princey and Logic with his tentacles out, allowing slime to drip off of them and onto the Sides below. Princey starts yelling at Remus, but Logic merely summons an umbrella and ignores him. Princey is so busy yelling at Remus in fact, that Morality has no trouble putting on Coraline without him noticing. 

If Virgil squints just a little bit, it’s almost like all the ‘Main Sides’ are _actually_ here to celebrate his birthday and not just because Morality tricked them. It’s so painfully domestic feeling, Virgil wants to cry. _Best birthday ever._

Logic heads for bed after Coraline, citing the importance of a consistent sleep schedule and not-so-subtly hinting that the others should go to bed too. They don’t. 

Virgil, Princey, and Remus all fall asleep some time during the Nightmare Before Christmas, Virgil while leaning on Janus’ shoulder, and Princey on his stomach on the floor with Remus seated on his back. 

Janus and Morality are the only ones awake when the end credits roll. 

“Do you want to pick the next movie?” Morality asks in a hushed tone. 

“I _definitely_ wasn’t planning on heading for bed now,” answers Janus as he carefully maneuvers Virgil off his shoulder without waking him. “I do _so_ want to wake up in the morning with a crick in my neck. 

Morality gives him a funny look for a moment before comprehension colors his face. “Oh, okay! Good night, Deceit!”

 _“Terrible_ dreams, Morality,” Janus rolls his eyes as he makes his way to the stairs, before turning back. “Oh and I _wasn’t_ joking earlier.”

“When?”

“I _adore_ pickled herring and _despise_ lasagna… I also _despise_ assisting Princey with his theatrical endeavors.”

Morality actually _giggles_ at that. “Okey-dokey, kiddo. I’ll see what I can do!”

Patton stays up a little bit longer watching Parks and Rec, and he makes sure to cover the sleeping Sides with blankets before he heads for his own bed (at three in the morning, but Logan doesn’t need to know that). Roman and Remus remain dead asleep, but Anxiety stirs as Patton tucks the blanket around him. 

“Mmm?”

“Shh, go back to sleep kiddo.”

“Mkay,” Anxiety mumbles. “‘Night, pops.”

It takes _everything_ in Patton not to squeal. His dark strange son is adorable when he’s sleepy. 

“Good night, Anxiety. Happy birthday.”

**Author's Note:**

> Stay Safe  
> Wear a Mask  
> Don't be Stupid  
> Happy Holidays  
> Happy Birthday Virgil  
> I'm Proud of All of You


End file.
